Re: [Harp-L] Re: Miles Davis, So What / position exploration / harp

["Bill" <bill.eborn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Richard
Can I with the greatest respect disagree?  i think we have to remember that 
in terms of our understanding of it's potential, the diatonic harmonica is 
quite a different animal now to what it was 30 years ago and we have this 
towering presence (literally towering, since he's a very tall man) of Howard 
Levy to thank for this.  But for me the essential reference in terms of cool 
jazz has to be Sebastien Charlier's album Diatonic Revelation, which if you 
haven't heard it, I thoroughtly recommend it and I would be interested to 
know your thoughts on it.

In the interview which Patrice Rayon translated and provided a link to a 
while back, Charlier mentioned how the diatonic harmonica can now begin to 
be thought of as a conservatoire instrument, which is an incredible step 
forward and he also said I think that the barriers are in many ways 
psychological rather than actual.

The difficulty I think, with tackling this type of material isn't so much 
with achieving the notes, it's getting the triplet phrasing but that's a 
challenge on the chromatic too isn't it?  Or at least I find it is but then 
i'm also a lot newer to the chromatic than the diatonic.  There's a big 
difference after all (with profuse apologies to horn players) between 
blowing down a tube and moving your fingers and the different techniques 
required to play notes on the diatonic or moving up and down a mouthpiece 
and blowing and drawing and using a slide on the chrom.

What's important surely is the sound, which is one of the things that so 
interesting about the Charlier album.  To me he really seems to have managed 
to produce a jazz tone on the diatonic.  It's not the sound I want to get, I 
want a dampened mute trumpet sound and I'm also writing this very aware that 
I'm not there yet (miles away in fact).  I spent about four years where I 
learnt to overblow and then began studying jazz on the diatonic but for the 
last two years I've been putting most of my efforts into learning chromatic 
and I'm hoping to begin performing with it regularly very soon.  Which means 
there's space I think to get back to expanding what I do on diatonic and 
also to spend a bit (well quite a lot actually) of money to get instruments 
of the quality I need to help me do it. But there are some things which i 
don't think i would ever want to play on the diatonic.  Latin jazz for 
example and Tango which i love but I cannot imagine sounding right on a 
diatonic but then i also don't think Tango sounds as good when played on an 
accordian as opposed to a bandoneon, to me, somehow it seems to need the 
authentic instruments but jazz is a very different and definitively flexible 
beast of constant reinvention is it not?  Although there will always be a 
difference between what you do in a function band say and in the regular gig 
at the Dog and Duck.

Anyway that's my - probably a bit more than twopennarth - Â1.47's worth 
maybe - lol

Thanks

Bill

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Hunter" <turtlehill@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2010 10:39 AM
Subject: [Harp-L] Re: Miles Davis, So What / position exploration / harp


> I transcribed Miles's solo on this piece from "Kind of Blue" for my book 
> "Jazz Harp."  I didn't bother transcribing for the diatonic, because in 
> 1979-80 (when I was writing the book) it didn't seem likely that anyone 
> would try to execute the material on diatonic.
>
> However, if I were going to do so now, I would probably use a C diatonic 
> and a Db diatonic, both in 3rd position.  The original is in D minor/Eb 
> minor, and the mode on both chords is Dorian, which suits 3rd position 
> just fine.  (The solo is a very nice study in how to use chord 
> extensions.)
>
> The problem with this approach is that there are a few passages--mostly in 
> the transitions from Eb minor back to D minor--where the lines get VERY 
> chromatic, not at all easy to execute on any diatonic. Given that, and 
> given also that the tune is the essence of cool jazz, and the chromatic 
> harmonica is a superb instrument for cool jazz (not to mention for tunes 
> that are in D minor and Eb minor), I'd just play it on the chromatic.
>
> Regards, Richard Hunter
>
>
>
> author, "Jazz Harp"
> latest mp3s and harmonica blog at http://myspace.com/richardhunterharp
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